Human Chapters

In the spirit of International Women's Day, I am honoured and privileged to have a conversation with my dear friend, Sienna, about her Chapter, Embracing My Inner GBS Turtle. I'm deeply grateful for being surrounded by females I love, adore, look up to, and aspire to be. These include my mum, sister, cousins, grandmas, friends, mentors, colleagues, and so forth. International Women's D...

It was a deep honour to engage in a conversation with Kiaya about her Chapter, Speech Pathology and Education. Kiaya generously shares the following points: - Her passion in literacy and how Speech Pathology fits within it - Her career points that have contributed to her robust knowledge within the discipline - Her current workplaces (private practice and La Trobe University) and projects An enorm...

It was a deep honour and privilege to engage in this conversation with Chantelle about her Chapter, My Breast Cancer Journey Laced with Silver Linings. Chantelle generously shares the following: - Her breast cancer journey from suspicion through to diagnosis and treatment - Her second pregnancy prior to beginning chemotherapy - The silver linings interwoven through every part of this Chapter A hea...

It was a deep honour to engage in this informative conversation with Leah about her Chapter, Evidence Based Education. Leah generously shares the following points and much more: - Her journey in Education - What each role/part entailed and taught her - Literacy being a social justice issue- High impact elements used in teaching - Explicit Direct Instruction, Cognitive Load Theory, etc. - Her busin...

It was a deep honour to engage in a heart and laughter-filled conversation with Ciru about her Chapter, Comedy. Ciru generously shares the following points and much more: - Her journey as a storyteller in her childhood. - The fork in the road where she had to make some difficult choices. - Her intrinsic love for laughter, story-telling, and the satiating feeling she experiences on the stage. - The...

It was a privilege to engage in a conversation with Porscia about her Chapter, Insights into Raising a Child with Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA). Porscia generously shares the following points and much more: - A brief introduction about herself. - Her son, Harry's Autism diagnosis at the age of 2 and a half. - An introduction to Pathological Demand Avoidance and what this is like for her son....

It was a deep honour to engage in a conversation with Molly about her Chapter, My Journey in Education. Molly generously shares the following points and much more: - Her passion for social justice particularly in the area of literacy - Experience in teaching primary school students - Her doctorate and deep work in reading comprehension - Her podcast - End Book Deserts - https://podcasts.apple.com/...

It was an absolute honour to engage in a hearty conversation with Tre about his Chapter, Walking in my Purpose. Tre generously shares the following (and more): - His career in education thus far. - His son's difficulties in literacy and how this enhanced his understanding on how the brain learns to read. - A book club Tre and a few other fathers of children with literacy difficulties engaged in to...

It was an absolute honour to engage in a wholesome conversation with James about his Chapter, Laying the Foundations Educational Consulting. James generously shares the following points: - His experiencing with tutoring in his high school years. - His decision to become a primary school teacher. - His transition from Victoria to Northern Territory where he was introduced to a program called Direct...

It was a deep honour to engage in a wonderful conversation with Lorraine about her Chapter, Learning for All, Teaching that Matters, Learning that Lasts. She generously shares the following and much more: - Her journey from being a primary school teacher to a Professor of Learning Interventions at the University of Melbourne. - Why education is important.- The focus of her research in reading comp...

It was a deep honour to engage in a wonderful conversation with Rouzana about her Chapter, Global Action for Developmental Language Disorder. Rouzana generously shared the following points and much more: - Her professional role within Implementation Research and Consultancy. - The path that led her to work with the DLD population to ensure they receive the supports they require. - An explanation o...

It was an absolute honour to engage in a wholesome conversation with Di about her Chapter, Make a Plan. Di generously shares the following and much more: - She is a mum, wife, and a Speech Pathologist - The journey of her private practice, Perth Hills Allied Health - Some strong values include application of neurodiverse affirming practice, a focus on strength-based, play-based, and total communic...

It was a deep honour to have the opportunity to engage in a wholesome conversation with Pam about her journey in Education. Pam generously shares the following points: - What drew her to education - Some of her work with the juvenile justice population - The triangulation of her journey between Speech and Language Pathology, Public Health, and the professor of Cognitive Psychology - The journey of...

It was a deep honour to engage in a conversation with Staci about her Chapter, Liberation - Let's Free Teachers to Teach. In this conversation, Staci generously shared about: - her experience as a teacher whose students did not learn to read - her experience as a teacher whose students learned to read - her journey in education - her current work as the president of Educate in assisting educat...

It was an absolute honour to engage in a conversation with Heidi about her Chapter, Show Me The Evidence in Education. Heidi generously shared her Education journey, which commenced as a parent and morphed into parent advocacy and much more. Heidi generously shared the following points: - Her children's diagnoses and their journey from assessments to understanding what this meant for them. - T...

It was an honour to engage in a conversation with George about his Chapter, A Carer's Journey. George tells us about his experience in caring for his mother, who was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease. An enormous thanks to George for sharing his journey and to all who will listen to/watch this conversation. It will be available on  @humanchapters  YouTube, Podcast, and Facebook page. Geor...

It was an absolute honour to engage in a wonderful conversation with Jeanette about her Chapter, The Education Journey. Jeanette generously shared the following points: - Her introduction - Some pivotal moments that sparked her interest in her teaching career and ones that were a catalyst to change - Her career journey - Her mentor principal, Kevin - Casting the widest literacy net for students An...

It was an absolute honour to engage in a beautiful conversation with Melissa and Lori about their Chapter, Our Education Journey. I have been listening to their conversations on Melissa and Lori Love Literacy podcast since they first started it, and found them to be a solid companion and champion in my own journey. Melissa and Lori generously shared the following points: - how they began questioni...

It was an absolute honour to engage in a wonderful conversation with Sue and Michelle about their Chapter, Teaching Together. In this conversation Sue and Michelle generously shared the following: - an introduction of themselves including their careers - how they connected - the start of their business journey, Teaching Together - their passion for literacy being a social justice issue - their cur...

It was an absolute honour to engage in a conversation with Paddy about his Chapter, A Shift to Becoming a Children's Picture Book Author and Illustrator. Paddy generously shared the following points in this conversation: - He was born in Ireland and lives in Belgium. - He was on his travels when the decision was made to venture into the world of illustrations and writing -The longevity of stor...

It was an absolute honour to engage in a conversation with Leigh about his Chapter, My Ongoing Journey in Education. Leigh discussed the following points:- Where his career commenced- Pivotal points that aided a shift in his teaching practices- His experience in creating a road map for the staff to support students with learning difficulties - His passion and drive for education equity and a goal...

It was an honour to engage in a conversation with Kathryn about her Chapter, I Don't Quite Fit the Work Mould. In this conversation, Kathryn generously shares and discusses the following points: - Her dual qualifications in Speech and Language Pathology and Teaching (Primary School and Special Education). - Her professional breadth before she commenced her venture in education. - Her involveme...

It was an honour to engage in a hearty conversation with Ruchi about their Chapter, Intersectionality, Radical Self Love, and Liberation. In this conversation, Ruchi generously shares a significant Life Chapter that encompasses intricately woven themes including - a feeling of alienation, radical self-love, the discovery of her gender identity, neurodivergence, cultural expectations, and much more...

It was an honour to engage in a conversation with Elise about her Chapter, Decodable Books Fixing the I Can't Read. We explore the following points in this discussion: - Elise's introduction - Her passion for literacy - Her journey in founding the Express Readers company - The importance of decodable books in the classrooms - The research she draws upon when creating these stories - The st...

It was an honour to engage in a wonderful conversation with Brent about his Chapter, Literacy Leadership. Brent was generous in sharing and discussing the following points: - His introduction - His journey into becoming an educator and why he was selective in only wanting to teach students in years 5 and 6, - His first principalship at the age of 29 in a school that had approximately 3 principals...